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Friday, March 3, 2017

Wall Stories: Contemporary and Eclectic Wall Decor

We have seen some alluring and aesthetically pleasingtraditional and ethnic Indian wall decor in the first part of the "Wall Stories" series and it has already crossed 2.5k views and figure is increasing by the day. That shows how much love y'all have showered on it. Let's move on to the second part of this series. In this part, I am featuring contemporary and eclectic walls. Hope y'all will love this part as much as you loved the previous one!!

Contemporary decorating is synonymous to modern and can be defined by neutral colors, clean and smooth lines and casual look with emphasis on comfort while eclectic style of decorating is basically a game of mixing & matching. Variety of periods and styles are intertwined beautifully and various elements are put together in a manner that create a balanced look. I personally love an eclectic style of decorating as it brings together old and modern interestingly so I decided to add my wall's image in this part of the "Wall Stories" series. Here is an image of the wall in my work-space with perfect mix of traditional and modern touch. Wall shelf, tealights, painting and typography by a talent artist are the elements that make this space look contemporary while Indian art and craft, dashavtar miniature figurines, Moroccan lanterns are lending a traditional touch. This shelf also houses gifts from dear friends and family members that makes this wall even more special and close to my heart. I love working here. Looking at this wall just doubles the joy of working from home.

Image: Mine

Now before we go ahead, please meet my guests today who are joining us from the different parts of the world and who have been kind enough to send me the images of their beautiful walls despite their busy schedule. Wendy lives in Indiana, USA and excitedly shares that she has spent a lot of time in Amritsar, India and she loves India. Wendy, thank you so much for spreading love and being so modest. The world needs more people like you!!
Rukmini from Mumbai, India and Sharon from Pune, India are my sweetheart friends and fellow bloggers, I know they need no introduction but I want to share few things. These two ladies are always there for me and patiently answered all my business(blogging) related queries. Despite living in the same city for years, I got the opportunity to meet Sharon only recently and we both were elated (read over excited). I haven't met Rukmini yet and let me tell you how badly I want to meet her. This girl inspires me even in my dreams too.
Rachel lives in England and has a very beautiful home with dark interiors. Clever use of colors make them pop against dark toned walls in her home. She mixes and matches various elements beautifully and that's why I fell in love with her interiors.
Deepika lives in Texas, USA and Meera is from Michigan, USA. I acquainted with these super talented ladies through Instagram, where they share beautiful images of their stunning homes. They both have a different style of decorating yet their homes emanate warmth of an Indian home.
Archana lives in Reston, US and what a lovely home she keeps. The warm and welcoming vibes of her home make me want to see more of it. Images of her home are so beautiful and so Indian. Keep them coming dear!
Lovely lady Dawn is from Seattle, USA. She blew me away with her unique sense of styling and beautiful images of her home that she shares on her Instagram account. You need to check out the image of her living room on Instagram to know what I am telling. Windya lives in Indonesia and has become a good friend of mine after I featured her home last year. She quite often chats with me to know more about Indian culture and festivals. Prasanna lives in North Carolina, USA and I know this lady since my early days of blogging. I have always admired her way of decorating and especially vignettes full of colors and cheers!
A BIG THANK YOU to you wonderful ladies for being a part of this blog!!
Let the fun begin. I have embedded the links to these talented ladies' Instagram account in subheadings below, click and enjoy your daily dose of eye candies.

Wendy's Global Eclectic Wall Decor: "The bedroom is often one of the most neglected rooms in our homes when it comes to decorating. I too was guilty of this and decided the other day that this needed to change! I had been picking up inexpensive baskets for the past year while out thrifting, and they were lying unused in a heap on a shelf in my closet. So, I grabbed the baskets and used clear push pins to secure them to the wall above my bed. This was a very inexpensive way to add a focal point to my wall and to bring in some texture. The painting above the nightstand was a gift from a friend and had been hanging in my living room in an area where it was difficult to view. So, it was moved up to my bedroom where I can appreciate it every day. Often, decorating a room doesn't require you to go out and spend a lot of money; it's amazing what you can pull together just by thinking outside the box and "shopping" from other areas of your home. Happy Decorating!"

Image: Wendy (banks_of_the_wabash)

Rukmini's Contemporary Wall Decor:"I love mirrors and canvases as wall arts and I love typography so I painted a tiny square in a canvas with chalkboard paint and use it according to the season. Mostly its coffee quote though thanks to a 9 to 6 job!"

Image: Rikmini (tumatter)

"After my wall mount mirror broke, I was more than happy. I soon realised that the wall mount mirror was something I don’t like and I want to have a big mirror in a chipped white frame. but I couldn’t really just throw it away, so I waited for one of my bad days! Anyway, I bought this mirror frame from a flea market for 15$ but didn’t quite like its gold. And a mirror of this size and work in a chippy finish, in “The home Shop” is priced at 3000 rupees, which amounts to I think around 67$. So, clearly, the answer was NO. Instead, a white paint and a sand paper really helped. 1$ for all! This is how it all teams up now!"

"This is my dining room wall, and from the moment I first saw this apartment, I knew I wanted plates on this wall. So that’s how it started – my fascination for plates, and the thrill I get from buying tons of them, and taking turns displaying them here. The area between the dining chair and wall is not much, so instead of a conventional sideboard, I have a really tall console table. I was particular about the height because I wanted the display of plates to have that little bottom note, with plates on the table. This way, the wall looks visually pleasing, because eyes rest at three different levels, where I hope, any guest who comes in, finds delight at each of these levels – a pleasing tablescape, some drama on the sideboard, and the plates on the wall."

Image: Sharon (thekeybunch)

"For some variety, and if I want to match an elaborate tablescape with art on the wall, I sometimes replace the plates with baskets, or artwork, or even frames in different colours. This wall is a lovely canvas to play around with, and I love the freedom of creativity it offers me. It’s also right next to my open kitchen, and I delight in the medley of colours that my eyes get treated to, especially when I am entertaining or cooking."

Rachel's Dark & Eclectic Wall Decor:"I love an eclectic style of decorating, dark background I find brings everything to life. My favorite purchases usually which involves searching second-hand shops for all sorts second-hand treasures, a plate gallery wall has always appealed to me and is as expensive or inexpensive as you wish it to be."

Image: Rachel (racheytwitroo)

Deepika's Colourful Eclectic Wall Decor:Our House has more windows that walls and Its a challenge to bring in decor without overcrowding one part of the house and I am no minimalist :) This is my favorite wall that I color matched it with a beautiful uppada saree hand embroidered with chikku muggu ( kolam) designs that my mom had sent for our housewarming . The many moods of this green throughout the day is breathtaking and always feels anew. I am glad that I chose Green over my husband's choice of a blue-black :) I am no interior designer and I always follow my gut when it comes to decor. I love a lot of color and asymmetry in my decor. This whole wall evolved over a period of time and It's not finished yet but it makes my heart skip with joy which matters the most!

Image: Deepika (saffronanddaisies)

The pieces have been collected over time and over years and yet they all come together so well. The mirror was a pier 1 find and we carefully moved it from one state to another without breaking it which is a feat in itself. Its very very special as our babysitter who watched our kids for the first 5 years of their lives gave us a gift card to the store knowing my love for mirrors. It always reminds me of her. the candle holders are a Diwali gift from friends. The blue vase and the rustic bench is a find from a Dallas-based Indian furniture store. The Madhubani painting is a wedding gift from friends, The horse is a Home Goods find. Throw is from Fab India and the kalamkari cushions are from my own online store Isan. The masks are from Khazana, A Minneapolis Indian decor store. The Buddha, red urli and the elephant tassels are from World Market. The plants are all gifts from friends. The bunch of lavender is special because the husband bought those for me. The gold console was from a furniture outlet store and extremely functional.

Our home decor is very much about the stories in our life. This wall reflects those stories. It's a happy mix of things we love: vintage items and interesting typography. The "eye chart" is a poster my daughter picked up at Homegoods when she was 7 years old. She liked that she could crack the puzzle, I loved the quote and my husband liked the typography concept.

The children's typewriter was a vintage store find. I wasn't sure if it worked, and the store owner and I had a great conversation as we figured out how to get it to work. He shared many interesting stories of the items around the store, including a set of the Old Detroit Tigers (Baseball team) Stadium seats. This piece reminds me of the many trips I make to area vintage stores. The store owners usually remember me by the items I purchased from them much to the amusement of my family!

Image: Meera (meera4d)

The Ambassador print is from a store in Mumbai called Kulture Shop. I always loved that print and got a chance to purchase it this time on my trip to Mumbai. The Ambassador was our first car back in the 70s. My mother was one of the rare lady drivers in the early 70s. The Ambassador always brings back many childhood memories - so seems appropriate to include in our decor.

The "Home" frame with the black and red letters was a DIY project. I used to be an avid scrapbooker and have quite a collection of alphabets. These were left over letters that I could use on my projects. I put them down randomly and added the word "Home" in to get an inexpensive art project for the shelf.

Image: Meera (meera4d)

I bought a unique picture holder from CB2 years ago and promptly forgot about it. It has a picture ledge and four acrylic tubes in which you can insert prints or photos. With this set of cards in the Devnagiri script from Kulture Shop, I finally found a way to use it. Sitting atop the acrylic tubes is a vintage car that my son bought at the Brooklyn Flea Market. He has quite a collection of vintage cars so more of them may appear around the house.

"My philosophy on how I decorate my home is - make a space where I am happy to spend time myself as well as with others.This particular corner came about when my better half and kids took over my beautiful sunroom with their monstrous pingpong table. I carved out a niche for myself to read n relax while the boys went about their shenanigans. The buddha art " I had to buy" found a place here some time ago. I moved in an armchair that been around forever, a roadside find, a table that cleaned up well and some knickknacks I had around. The fireplace was a love a first sight for us. But until we can change the eyesore of tiles around it, what I have going on makes it palatable enough to sit back, relax and enjoy with my family."

"Honestly, my approach to filling a wall is the same as filling my home. If I love it, I find a place for it. I have a passion for vintage oil paintings, rarely do I pass one up. I loved how these all had a turquoise color theme. The owl I thrifted years ago at a favorite spot that is now gone. ☹️ The brass garland is from Target and the baskets and dream catcher were also thrifted."

Image: Dawn (noodle_jude)

Windya's Eclectic & Contemporary Wall Decor:"I am passionate about home decor and decorating walls tops the list. There not a single wall in my home that can be found lifeless. My entryway wall that is decorated in an eclectic way is loved by one and all. I have mixed and matched antique and traditional elements like photo frames, flower paintings, and textile."

Image: Windya (indaww)

"I love an eclectic and contemporary style of decorating and hence I try to infuse both of them in my decor. The mix & match theory worked well in our son's room too. Family pictures, typography, geographical patterns and empty frames together define the contemporary style of decorating."

"House is where the heart is, this is truly a true statement in my decor world. When you start to decorate your house there are a wealth of resources you can get inspire from, from colors to decor pieces to composition. But in the end, this all should lead to what makes your heart and soul happy. So pick what works for you and your family and that defines your style.

Coming to me, I am a picky person when it comes to my decor style. I cannot ever get anything off the shelf for the first time I see it. I truly need to connect with it, in every sense. Here is a story of my wall/corner, which is my inspiration. I knew that I wanted to do something different with this corner, something that will reflect and define who I am. In the end, I feel that everything in this corner meant to be here."

Image: Prasanna (rangkatha)

"My favorite colors - Range from the palette of blues to greens then to purples - So this first step of color picking was not a trivial task. What I picked here is olive green because this corner is in my kitchen, where there is ample of light and different times of day olive green looks different. My passion and love which made it to this corner-

Image: Prasanna (rangkatha)

Family - Have pictures of my family ( immediate, extended - from generations). They are nucleus of my existence

Art - as a self-learner I have explored different mediums and my latest love is charcoal which exposed me to the beauty of white and black combo.

Dance - Classical dance forms and its beauty has always inspired me. I had to have some representation of that in my corner.

Pottery - Love everything about it, from playing with clay to throwing it on a wheel to glaze and carve. Every ceramic piece is made by me.

Flowers/Plants - They speak to me. and cheer my soul. So cannot imagine going without them.

Travel - Who won't love to travel. Have a collection of souvenirs from every place I have traveled to.Priceless souvenirs - Some passed on from generations to me. Like kumkum box is from my great grand mom.

In the end - this wall turned out to be my soul searching effort and I couldn't be more happy about how it turned out to be."

I am sure you enjoyed reading about these wall stories and have found some inspirations to decorate walls in your homes too. So what is your key takeaway from this blog!!
Stay tuned for the last part of this series "Wall of Memories & Wall of Masks" together!! Till then meet me on my Instagram gallery everyday!